Summary of Findings for Clinical Questions

The main findings of this updated review are consistent with the findings of the 2014 AHRQ report (14). In summary, evidence on long-term opioid therapy for chronic pain outside of end-of-life care remains limited, with insufficient evidence to determine long-term benefits versus no opioid therapy, though evidence suggests risk for serious harms that appears to be dose-dependent. These findings supplement findings from a previous review of the effectiveness of opioids for adults with chronic noncancer pain. In this previous review, based on randomized trials predominantly ≤12 weeks in duration, opioids were found to be moderately effective for pain relief, with small benefits for functional outcomes; although estimates vary, based on uncontrolled studies, a high percentage of patients discontinued long-term opioid use because of lack of efficacy and because of adverse events (10).

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/rr/rr6501e1.htm

The GRADE evidence summary with type of…